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 CHAPTER
FIVE:Those Who don’t Fit the Model: Family Situations and Status
in Judaism and the Jewish World
C: EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES
23. Marrying In and Out – Part One [Section 6]
(An hour and a half to two hours).
- If anyone in the group is the product of a mixed marriage, ask them
prior to the activity if they would be willing to speak to the group
about their experience as a child of a mixed marriage.
- If there is not, go straight to the second phase of the activity
which is a formal debate on the issue of interdating.
The issue should be:
THIS HOUSE BELIEVES THAT INTERDATING LEADS TO INTERMARRIAGE,
AND THAT IT SHOULD THEREFORE BE DISCOURAGED.
- This should be followed by a discussion on the subject: as a
personal issue, it can be expected to raise a great deal of debate
and argument.
- Following this, ask the group why Jews have traditionally been so
negative about intermarriage. Bring the following two excerpts from
Devarim and Malachi to help them to focus on the roots of the problem.
Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their
sons or take their daughters for your sons, for they will turn your
sons away from following Me to serve other G-ds and the Lord’s
anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you. ... For
you are a people holy to the Lord your G-d. The Lord your G-d has
chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be a
people, His treasured possession.
Devarim 7:3-6
Judah [the Jews] has broken faith. A detestable thing has been
committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. Judah has desecrated the sanctuary
that the Lord loves, by marrying the daughter of a foreign G-d. As
for the man who does this, whomever he may be, may the Lord cut him
off from the tents of Judah – even though he brings offerings
to the Lord Almighty.
Malachi 2:11-12
- Present the story of Ezra and the intermarriage of the Judeans in
the early Second Temple period. (Read together the story, which appears
in the Book of Ezra Chapters 9/10.)
- Divide the story up into a number of different scenes and divide
the group up into the requisite number of sub-groups.
- Each sub-group should prepare one of the scenes as improvised
drama.
The following two pieces of text should be incorporated into the final
presentation of the Ezra-and-intermarriage story by the relevant sub-groups:
We have disregarded the commands You gave through Your servants
the prophets when You said: the land that you are entering is a land
polluted by the corruption of its peoples. By their detestable practices
they have filled it with their impurity from one end to the other. Therefore,
do not give your daughters in marriage to their sons or take their daughters
for your sons… Shall we again break Your commandments and intermarry
with the peoples who perform such detestable practices? Would You not
be angry enough with us to destroy us leaving no remnant or survivors…
Here we are before You in our guilt, though because of it not one of
us can stand in Your presence.
Ezra 9:10-15
You have been unfaithful: you have married foreign women, adding
to Israel’s guilt. Now make confession to the Lord G-d of your
fathers and do His will. Separate yourselves from the peoples around
you and from your foreign wives.
Ezra 10:10-11
- After the presentation, ask the group how they feel about Ezra’s
actions.
Was this a good or a bad model for the Jews?
Discuss with the group why this is considered one of the more
crucial moments in Jewish history.
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